Telkom, a South African telecoms company, has reported that its group revenue climbed 3.4% from R21.38 billion to R22.1 billion ($1.28 billion) in the six months ended September 30, 2025 (H1 FY2026). The inflow was fueled by data revenue, which surged by 7.9% to R13.072 billion, accounting for 59.1% of total revenue.
In Tuesday’s financial report for the period under review, Telkom said its headline earnings per share (HEPS), a key profit measure, saw a 16.4% rise, driven by its data-led strategy. In addition, the HEPS rose to 305.6 cents in the six months ended September 30, up from 191.5 cents a year earlier.
Group CEO Serame Taukobong said that its data-led strategy will continue to act as a catalyst for growth, noting that Telkom’s financial status remains healthy. He added that the company will continue to strengthen its unique position as the backbone of South Africa’s digital future.
“These results demonstrate that we are well-positioned to deliver on the commitments of our medium-term objectives. Additionally, the results reflect the determination and commitment of all our employees, who are relentlessly focused on executing our data-led strategy,” he said.
The group’s mobile subscriber base grew 7.7% YoY, from 22.8 million to 24.5 million. This was driven by growth in prepaid mobile subscribers, which grew by 9% YoY, while its postpaid customer base declined by 0.6%.
The telecoms company, majority-owned by the South African government, saw its mobile data revenue grow by 10.3% and fibre-related data revenue increase by 12.3%.
Telkom’s net debt to EBITDA remains stable at 0.7x after settling R4.834 billion in debt during the period. BCX, its ICT business, saw its EBITDA margin improve from 6.5% in Q1 to 9.9% in H1’25, reflecting successful cost transformation and portfolio optimisation.
However, the group’s profit for the period was R1.60 billion, 2.1% less than the net profit it reported a year ago.
Mobile service revenue rose 7.9%, and ARPU increased 4.1%, contributing to continued market-leading growth. Average revenue per user (ARPU) decreased by 3.4% YoY from R79.97 to R77.27.
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Telkom’s plans for H2’25
Stemming from the encouraging result in H1’25, Group CEO Serame Taukobong expressed confidence in the company’s ability to deliver quality earnings. In H2’25, he said revenue will remain a key area of focus across the Group, guided by its sustainable cost-optimisation efforts.
“We will continue to leverage the unique advantage of our extensive fibre footprint to drive growth through our strong mobile offerings in service and data. We expect to maintain service revenue growth at mid-single digits for the mobile business,” he added.
In its EBITDA margin outlook, Taukobongthe said the profit measure will moderate slightly due to the seasonality of investing in the summer campaign and the festive season.
“BCX will carry on with disciplined execution of its strategic actions and will focus on growing margin-accretive revenue. We will continue to act decisively in honing high performance by making the most of our strengths as a well-established infraco,” he said.
